Till Death Do Us Part
by bbgirl17555
Summary: Claudia Fic- A marriage was nothing more than a buisness deal, right? Chapter Two: Daddy- Anthony’s voice was sharp and a line furrowed on Sonny’s brow as he saw Claudia pause, shutting her eyes as if about to be struck, a flinch in front of her foe.
1. Prologue: Other Girls

She wasn't like other girls

**Till Death Do Us Part**

_A/N: This is my first multi part Claudia fic. Its going to touch on several different pairings. Please let me know what you think, constructive criticism is much appreciated. _

**Prologue **

She wasn't like other girls. She wasn't raised on fairytales, princes riding on white horses to save the fair maiden. There were no daydreams, only nightmares, bloodshed on the carpet, bodies dragged out roughly and hoisted into the back of a car, before disappearing completely. There was no pixie dust in her world, only guns in every drawer, knives at fingertips just waiting to be plunged into someone's back. So why should this matter?

"You don't have to do this, you know."

She looked at the door, a smile that didn't quiet reach her eyes covering her sorrow. Johnny always did that, made it sound so simple. He made Claudia think that maybe, just maybe she could change; maybe she could be someone different, someone better, someone just like all the other girls. "Its okay, John." She wasn't sure if the words were for him or her.

"You look beautiful." He remarked.

Claudia rolled her eyes, moving in front of the long pier glass. "I don't look anything like me." The satin ivory gown hugged her tiny waist before billowing out. Her dark hair hung in loose cascading curls down her back, two clasps in heavy silver dotted with rubies keeping the curls from her face, Maria's veil, with its scalloped Irish lace, making her look soft and angelic. Claudia frowned at her reflection; she looked just like any other girl on her wedding day. And she wasn't, she wasn't one of those romantic waifs, Claudia knew better to believe in things like fairytales and love conquering all. She knew better…

Johnny came to stand beside her in front of the mirror. "I don't know. I think you look like my gorgeous sister." His smiled dropped when he saw her look away, a single tear catching the light. "Hey."

He went to place his arms around her but she shrugged off his embrace, feeling embarrassed and ashamed. As a girl she had always been close to tears, always feeling them begin as a quiver in her chin, as a woman she had learned how to shut down, to become icy and hard, and yet... there were moments when the walls came down. She hated herself for each tear. Claudia Zacchara who knew what real evil was, lived with murder and ate with death, brought to tears over a wedding.

Johnny turned away as she quickly swiped at her tears, as if removing them removed all of her weakness. "Johnny." She spoke to his broad back, even without him looking at her she could feel it; the anger seemed to vibrate off his skin. "Its okay." She ground out the words. "I'm okay."

Her brother turned to face her, frustration bubbling over. "I'm not going to let you do this. If I have to kill the bastard myself, our father has no right to make you do this."

"John, John, John." Claudia grabbed at her brother's arm as he went to walk out. She knew he meant it; he was almost as protective as her as she was as him. She pulled at him, drawing him into her embrace, hugging him close to her, a hand on the back of his head as she spoke into his ear, her face against his. "It's nothing. It's a marriage- a business deal. Look, look. " She drew back slightly, cupping his handsome face with both of her small hands, forcing him to really see her. "You know as well as I do that this isn't real. I'm going to marry Sonny."

"You hate him." John cut in, taking her hands down from his face and taking a step away. Claudia shut her eyes for a moment, the distance feeling more like an ocean than a few feet. "How can you marry someone you hate?"

"Of course I hate him. He almost killed you." For a moment her world started to spin, she dropped her head, her fingertips pushed into her temple, the lace of her veil pressed against her tan skin as a wave of nausea overtook her.

"You okay?"

Claudia brought the back of her other hand against her mouth as she fought against the bile that rose in her mouth. Then the moment was gone, as quickly as it had come. She stood for a moment dazed, on slightly quivering legs. "Yeah. I think I must be coming down with the flu or something." She went to the dresser, picked up her lipstick and compact and started to reapply it.

John snapped the compact shut and tossed it across the room. "It's not the flu. You are sick over this wedding. You don't want to do this, Claudia. Don't do this." There was a plea in his voice that made her soften; she wondered if he thought he was saving her, wrestling her immortal soul from the hands of the devil himself. She wondered if he knew that battle had been long lost, her mistakes nothing but a tangled mess that trapped her, made her this hard woman in front of him. She couldn't go back, she couldn't change. This was all she could hope for now, a bit of power and to stop the blood flow, to keep her Johnny safe.

"It's just a wedding." Claudia reminded him, reminding herself. "People do it everyday. It doesn't mean anything."

"Shouldn't it?" He countered. He didn't see the hurt flash in her eyes, of course it should mean something, in a different world where she believed in love, believed it was possible for her, maybe it would have been different. "Shouldn't it mean something? I don't want this for you. You shouldn't be marrying someone you hate for some sort of stupid business deal. I can't- I can't watch you do this to yourself."

"John, what are you saying?" There was a quiver in her voice, fear clawing in. He couldn't, he just couldn't leave her to do this on her own; leave her in a church with only her father and Sonny, two men that wanted her and wanted her dead.

"I can't, Claudia. I can't." He didn't look back, he couldn't, he didn't want to see her standing there so beautiful, in so much pain. He just walked out and didn't look back.

Claudia stood on weak legs, her world slippery beneath her feet, her hands wrapped around her own stomach. She couldn't do this, not alone. For a moment she thought about fleeing, tearing off the veil and running as far and as fast as she could, but she knew the blood shed that would cause. She rummaged through her silver clutch on the dresser, pulling out her cell phone, she had a little less than an hour before she was supposed to become Mrs. Corinthos. She dialed 6 digits before stopping herself, no he wouldn't come. Another different set of six before snapping the phone closed, she wouldn't risk him, he was too sweet, too fragile; she could already picture her father taking offense to him. With her back to the wall she slid down into a puddle of lace and satin, silent tears streaming down her cheeks, there was no one else, no one.

TBC


	2. Chapter One: Of Course

**Chapter One- Of Course**

He was not who she thought of imparting this to, truly. But the words came regardless of her barely-conceived intent. She left him with only the barest of details, nothing more to go on then to please meet her at the docks as soon as possible. He had not crossed her mind during her first frantic dialings, numbers punched and erased, it was only standing on the docks that she realized he was who she needed, a white knight to save the day, a charming prince to sweep her off her feet.

"Claudia." There was concern in his voice, his breath heaving in his chest as if he had ran there, not that he would, he was raised better than that. She turned; a vision in satin and lace, a silent tear and a smile for him.

For a second Nikolas feared for his own sanity, he always feared for his soul with Claudia, a temptress like no other, luring him down into the darkest recesses of his heart, but he had never feared for his gripe on reality. Claudia was not Emily. But there she was an angelic vision, too out of place to be true, a satin dress dragging along the splintered wood of the docks, a heartbreaking sad smile on her face, and a heavy lace veil twisting between her hands.

"Hey. You came." And then he really looked at her, weighing the extent of her in a long piercing gaze so that she couldn't stop her smile. It was inappropriate how thankful she was to him in that moment for actually making eye contact, and _seeing_ her, no ghost hovering over her shoulder, not the blood on her hands, not all of the broken pieces, just _her_.

Nikolas blinked twice, all of it too surreal to digest in one moment. Yes, he came, of course he came. He himself didn't know why, he had heard her voice so frantic, with none of the control he knew she fought so hard for, and he found his feet moving of their own volition. He told himself it was because he wanted to help, that's all, it had nothing to do with the madness in her eyes that seemed to match the screaming voices in his own mind, two souls on the brink of insanity, bloodshed and love a breath away from each other. Of course, he came. "You called." It seemed important to remind her of that, but he didn't know why. "What's going on?"

Claudia looked down at her hands, the end of her veils twisted in a ball between them, as a child she couldn't help fidgeting; maybe she hadn't changed as much as she thought. It was absurd of course, him here, her there, them together. She laughed at her own foolishness, the sound strange, piercing the silence between them, a smile that didn't belong on her face. "I'm getting married."

Of course she was. Nikolas waited for more pieces to click into place, but none did. "I guess that explains the dress." It was an insufficient reply and he knew that, it almost bordered on rude for all that it was lacking. She raised her eyebrows, a bit of mocking in her smile, but he paid it no mind. His eyes soaked her in; she looked so… different, she looked just like a girl, not like a power hungry mob princess. "You look beautiful." He added somewhat clumsily, something he never was except with her, awkward because she was unlike any person he had met, loving and hating, scared and endlessly brave rolled up into the gorgeous woman before him.

"Thanks…" Her voice drifted off as if she was unsure if it was some sort of backhanded comment, wary of the contentment she felt with him.

Nikolas shook his head, "I'm sorry but…" He gestured to the dress. "When exactly are you getting married?"

"In about twenty minutes."

"Okay." He rocked back on his heels, his fingers in a steeple at his lips. Her answer was too calm. "Here?" He asked, feeling as if perhaps he had forgotten and he himself had proposed to Claudia; it was preposterous of course but so was everything at the moment.

"At St. Michaels. " She could see the question on his lips and she took a deep breath, exhaling loudly before throwing herself into the fray. "To Sonny. I'm getting married to Sonny."

How, what, why, above all else why, why would she do this to herself, Nikolas couldn't understand. Sonny wasn't a monster but she hated him, hated him, had wanted him dead and paid with her soul. She would die there, she would flick and burn out, a flame with no air. "You can't." He didn't know why he cared, knew he shouldn't but he did. "You can't." He repeated his voice a breath above a whisper.

Claudia took a step forward then, squaring herself with him, giving him a heart wrenching soft smile, tilting her head as if he were a child needing comfort, a lie to keep the demons at bay. "I have to."

He was waiting for her to speak, to tell him what he believed he was entitled to, and he stepped back, looking out over the water, something real in a world that he turned into a cacophony of dreams and nightmares.

She began quickly, because the quicker this was out the sooner it would end. And then maybe he wouldn't hear it all but that wouldn't be her fault because she had said it. The further in she got, the more tears burned behind her eyes and the more the words slowed. _I don't want to be this. _And how to explain to him that she wasn't happy with where she was, with what she had begun, with the repetition and the superficial and disconnections and the results that were hollow. It was all a battle she couldn't remember why she was fighting, except for that not fighting meant to lay silently on a cold slab or worse for Johnny to. "And I have to do this; I have to keep Johnny safe. I can keep the peace." And she thought it was ironic that after so many battles she had started where blood ran down the street that she was giving her soul to stop one, if she still had a soul at all; who knew when the devil came to collect.

He smiled self-consciously, but looked away, unsurprised but not fine with it. That was her life, blood spilled, marriages arranged, families with murder in their eyes; something not to different from his own and maybe that was all it was. Maybe he just wanted to save her, maybe then it would be that he himself had gotten out, gotten away from the danger and destruction that was summed up in one word- Cassadine.

"And I just-" There it was, the thing she hated, the needy part of her that she didn't want to show. "I just can't do it on my own. It's crazy I mean I know it's no big deal really but… "And then she was done, completely, with no more words left inside her at all, and he reached across and covered her hand with his.

"You don't have to do this alone." Claudia exhaled; his hand was so hot. "Well I guess I don't have time to change."

The comment struck Claudia as something so innately Nikolas, the impeccable dress and manners, someone far beyond her reach in both breeding and brains, yet he was holding her hand. "Not really."

"That's okay. We'll make do." Of course they would, they had lived with demons bigger than this.

**TBC**

_A/N: I am very nervous about this story so please let me know what you think. Its going to hit on Claudia's relationship with several different men and how they all fold into her life._


	3. Chapter Two: Daddy

_A/N: Sorry for this taking so long, I just haven't been inspired lately, but I am back at it now. Please hit the happy little review button and let me know what you think._

**Chapter Two- Daddy**

"Where is she?"

Claudia swallowed hard, the voice booming against her ears, an old tightening in her stomach rising. She had too many years on her to feel like her again, to feel like a frightened twelve year-old, but still it was there, always was there when she heard his voice.

"It's okay." And she wondered if Nikolas could hear the wild thumping of her heart or feel the slight tremble in her step. He didn't say she didn't have to do this, and she was grateful. She liked to think he understood; that he was someone who saw her- fractured flaws and all and did not go screaming into the night.

There was a squeeze on her hand, reassurance in her faltering moments, and then a fake smile and her voice called out, "I'm here, Daddy." Daddy. Always Daddy.

Sonny stood in the entranceway, Anthony next to him. No need to stand on superstition, he was already making a pack with the devil. He shifted uncomfortably as Claudia came into view, her satin dress swishing around the corner, the train of her lace veil looped over her arm. Satan was said to have many disguise but this woman in front of him looked like an angel. He watched her bend down and place a perfunctorily kiss on her father's cheek and witnessed a flash of something in her eyes; a hollow, almost robotic movement, turning herself off to just get through the moment, her skin on his.

"You shouldn't keep your groom waiting." Anthony chided. "It is not the right way to start a marriage. And what's this?" He gestured to Nikolas.

_My strength_. "Nikolas Cassadine." She answered as if talking to a confused child. "You've meet him before." She didn't mention where, mention the terror he had inflicted, her voice was honeyed, too sweet to be honest. It was how she got through moments like this, moments with her father- play pretend, he was just a sick child, she lied to herself. It was the only way she could stand to look at him.

"I know who the putz is. I want to know what he is doing here."

Nikolas extended a hand, manners too inbred in him to do otherwise, a prisoner of politeness. "Hello, Mr. Zacchara. I hope you don't mind the intrusion –"

Anthony looked at his extended hand with distain. "Claudia." He wheeled his chair around sharply, not bothering with any niceties. "What is he doing here?"

Anthony's voice was sharp and a line furrowed on Sonny's brow as he saw Claudia pause, shutting her eyes as if about to be struck, a flinch in front of her foe. That wasn't her, the Claudia he knew would walk under ladders, pass a black cat on her way to meet the devil himself. Now she looked frightened, frail, almost small against her father's scolding. The empathy made Sonny hate her for a moment, he couldn't care about her, she was nothing; and if he made a move it could all unravel. He couldn't save her from Anthony, couldn't step in or his whole house of cards would come toppling down.

It was Nikolas who spoke up, trying to smooth the ruffled feathers. "I am here to act as a witness. I guess congratulations are in order."

Sonny watched as the young Prince's hand once again found Claudia and swallowed down the tiniest bit of rage that threatened to bubble up, he couldn't care about her, he wouldn't care about her. They were an unusual pair, Sonny mused, and he wondered how entangled Nikolas was in her life and silently vowed to detach him from her.

"Witness? Where is John? Where is your brother?" Accusing eyes bore into his daughter.

_Gone. _Claudia tried to remain calm, cold, removed. She couldn't think about Johnny, not now. Later when it was all done, maybe then she could repair it all, when it was all over, when there was no danger, maybe then she could just be his sister. He would be her Johnny and it wouldn't matter, not that she sold herself for a few magical beans, peace and power, and they would make it out of this nightmare, Hansel and Gretel lost in the woods finding their way home, they would find some sort of happily ever after.

"He couldn't make it." The words were so detached, so cool that Claudia thought perhaps they spilled from someone else's lips and not her own.

Anthony repeated her answer, his voice booming, echoing inside the empty church, there was no family waiting, no friends standing up for the happy couple and Claudia wondered if hell was nothing more than an empty room, you and your mind left alone. He grabbed her wrists, yanking her down towards him with more strength than his appearance gave. His words flew, knives at her heart, she was nothing, nothing at all. He warned her not to mess with Johnny, not to get his head all turned around and now look what happened.

"Hey!" Sonny's voice cut through the barbed yells. "We are in a church." And his hand was on hers, pulling Claudia's wrist from Anthony's grasp, handing her off to Nikolas as he stood in front of Anthony. "Listen here, old Man, you will not be disrespecting my wife like that. Once we are married, that's it. Do you got that? I don't want to hear you ever speaking to her like that again."

"Or what?" Anthony pushed his chair back from Sonny's grip on his armrests. "What are you going to do to your beloved Father-In Law?"

"What I should have done that day you disrespected her at the Metro Court."

"Yes, yes." Anthony waved a dismissive hand. "Something about making me crawl like a cockroach right? Well, surprise!" Anthony stood on wobbling feet, taking a step forward and Nikolas felt Claudia's pulse race, the skin of her wrist against his. He was acutely aware of everywhere they touched, even the places where the folds of her dress pressed against his trousers.

"Daddy?" Her voice was soft, worry crawling in, her hand leaving Nikolas' to lend an arm to the father she detested. "When? Why didn't you say anything?" She tried to force a smile, to play the part, reminding herself that if she could make it through living in that house that she could last a few minutes longer. And what then? She would Mrs. Sonny Corinthos. She knew it was a gamble even then, even with Sonny defending her it didn't mean that he wouldn't slit her throat one night, but there was a chance at protection, a chance at power and peace.

"I wanted to surprise my darling daughter and walk her down the aisle properly." Anthony explained like it was the most natural thing in the world, acting the part of devoted father as he placed a kiss on Claudia's temple. "You are going to make your father proud today." It wasn't a compliment, but a warning, his gaze resting on Nikolas. "Now, gentlemen, if you go inside I want a moment alone with my little girl."

Nikolas looked to Claudia and she nodded ever so slightly, and sighing he entered the empty church, wondering what sort of god could let this happen to her, let her be this broken girl, to grow up in that house of horrors. He expected Sonny to follow but heard the dark hair mobster pause. Sonny stopped in the doorway, waiting a breath away from Claudia until she finally raised her eyes to meet his. "It's going to be okay."

"Of course it is; it's a wedding." Anthony spoke loudly, interrupting their private moment, trying to break the reassurance Sonny was trying to convey. He could tell Claudia was fearful, and he knew men like Anthony, a bully, no different than Deke, and he wouldn't stand for that, no one deserved that. Sonny shook his head as the white doors closed behind him, walking with heavy steps towards the altar.

"Sonny." It was Nikolas who punctured the quiet, a plead in his voice asking Sonny not to go through with this.

"Nikolas." Sonny replied, his tone dark. "Look, I like you and all but don't get mixed up in this. This isn't something you want to be a part of."

"Claudia is a friend." Nikolas wanted to say more, the words hung heavy on his tongue but he stopped. He could tell that Sonny was resigned to his fate and Claudia was just a means to an end.

Sonny took in Nikolas' measurement with a glance, his finger pressed against his tightly drawn lips as he could make out the faintest of yells coming from the behind the white double doors. "Look, I get that you and Claudia might be friends or whatever but she is about to be my wife." A protective surge coursed through his body as his ears strained to hear the word 'whore' tossed out, closing his eyes trying to forget he himself had said those same words to Claudia before. "Do you understand me?"

Nikolas shook his head. "I understand." After all Sonny had a right to be protective, even if he was misreading things, Nikolas was sure that if Claudia was his wife he would shoot any man that dare to come too close. "But understand that if anything happens to her, well you are not the only one in this town with power and resources."

Sonny was about to respond to the blatant threat when the double doors opened. Even from a distance, he could tell she had been crying.

"Padre!" Shouted Anthony. "Let's get this show on the road!" And within fifteen minutes, Nikolas watched with a heavy heart as Claudia pledged to love, honor, and respect Sonny for all the days of her life.


End file.
